Telling the Elim story

Chris Cartwright's last ‘First Words’ feature at the end of an eight-year period as Elim’s General Superintendent

As I write my last ‘First Words’ and come to the end of an eight-year period as Elim’s General Superintendent, I want to express my deep appreciation to Peter Wreford and the whole Direction team for the outstanding work that they continue to do in compiling, editing and publishing Direction Magazine.

Direction Magazine is all about Elim people and Elim churches. It tells in words and images Elim stories and the Elim story.

I remember as a teenager, my father was appointed as Elim’s Director of Publications. With this grand title came the task of editing the Elim Evangel, a weekly magazine that was circulated to every Elim church. We moved from a small church to Cheltenham where Elim’s head offices were based and my Dad began the task, some might say the grind, of turning out a weekly magazine with a print run of multiple thousands.

Elim had its own printing press in the basement of the Cheltenham offices. With printers, graphic design and distribution, it was truly a well-oiled production machine.

After years of writing and editing, I don’t envy him the incredible pressure of weekly deadlines, and the constant challenge of finding content and filling pages.

One by-product was that it was during these years my Dad began to develop an interest in the history of Elim. Responding to the many questions from readers and researchers he began what became a ‘rest of his life passion’ for the history of Elim and the wider Pentecostal movement.

In recent years, we have sought in Direction to emulate some of the immediacy and insight of those weekly Evangels by bringing some of the many stories we hear from our local churches to a wider audience. We have discovered stories of salvation, of lives transformed. We’ve discovered that there are stories of healing and restoration – a God who still comes to real people in real places, reaching them with his life, transforming them with his power, renewing them with his grace and filling them with fresh hope and purpose.

We’ve also loved throwing a spotlight on the creative and compassionate ministries and outreach that come out of our local churches. Elim is a hugely diverse movement with different types of churches in different contexts from city to local community to rural, from complex large urban through to pioneer and fluid expressions of mission.

What binds us together first is our Origin story. We flow out of a move of God more than a century ago as the Holy Spirit swept across our nation and the nations of the world. We trace the progress of George Jeffreys and a growing band of brothers and sisters with a zeal for evangelism with signs following, who were propelled by the Spirit into reaching out to everyone.

As well as our Origin story, we have a Formation story. Over the decades, Elim has changed to reach the culture and the context of a changing nation. In the midst of profound cultural and social change, we have remained committed to the core gospel of Jesus, the Saviour, the Healer, the Baptiser in the Holy Spirit and the Coming King. That will continue as we look forward.

I praise God that Elim has a very clear and compelling vision and mission for the decade. We are committed to reach out again in radical mission so that every person has an opportunity to have a personal encounter with Jesus and follow him as Lord and Saviour.

In the coming months, as we welcome a new General Superintendent, let us continue to pray for a great awakening across our land and into our communities. Let’s continue to share our stories of grace, of hope, of healing and restoration, both as part of our worship and as a clear witness.

And let’s unite our hearts and lives together in prayer and in seeking God for a fresh awakening and outpouring of his Spirit in our own lives and families, in our churches, our communities, and our movement.

It’s been a privilege to have this opportunity to write regularly. Elim began its publishing arm in 1919 as the emerging pioneer movement was reaching out across the UK and. It quickly became a primary means of teaching and encouraging the many new converts who were coming to faith in Christ in the campaigns and outreach meetings. Over the next few years, they branched out into other literature, including correspondence courses, gospel tracts and popular books on Pentecostal teaching and doctrine.

We’re in a very different age of communications today. In addition to printed media, we have so many other platforms and options from video to podcasts and blogs. And you can check out past issues and the best of Direction articles and content at www.elim.org.uk.

Elim is already using all of these great communication tools, and I encourage you to check out our YouTube channels, our great podcasts, like the Limitless podcast, and the huge wealth of content emerging from our local churches and leaders.

May the Lord Almighty, the Creator, the Lord who breathed his life into words, who opened our eyes to images, landscapes and horizons, and who shaped our mouths to whisper, to speak and to sing, continue to show himself to us where we are and move us to where he calls us to be.

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.

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